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News Media and RSS Feeds

oJR writes that “industry decision makers still have concerns about public acceptance of a technology with no standardization or brand identity. They also worry about losing ad visibility on their own index pages.”

Today’s online news universe might be divided into outlets that have joined the RSS ranks, ones that have declined and those that continue to take a close look. Without doubt, a mechanism that drives traffic to a site would be beneficial, but what are the downsides? The RSS fence sitters point to several potential problems, specifically, that the technology can:

Confuse mainstream users because it lacks standardization and is still emerging from an early-adopter phase.

News sites that don’t offer even a front-page headline feed in this online universe risk becoming irrelevant not only to bloggers who can drive traffic with a mention of a story but to increasingly savvy news consumers like Miller who want control.

Most of the leading online Indian newspapers and magazines (exceptions: Indian Express group and Rediff) still don’t offer RSS feeds – they need to wake up quickly!